The Details

Siarra and Aaron need to write a book on how to throw the perfect brunch wedding! Not a single detail was missed…

Lovely set up in the largest room of the woodland center, complete with big windows looking out into the forest.

Yes, that is a donut wall, coffee bar, juice station, biscuit bar, and there was a waffle station too! What else could you want for brunch?!

They also had this lovely set up outside with games on the tables for guests to play, as well as rocking chairs with blankets for relaxing.

And nothing says Autumn woodland wedding like having a bluegrass band for entertainment!

The ceremony

Siarra and Aaron wanted to keep their Woodland Center ceremony simple, since they knew we would be outdoors and guests would be standing. Simple, however, does not mean boring or cookie cutter! These two wrote their own vows to each other, which were heartfelt, sweet, and funny.

Photo by Three Region Photography

Siarra comes from a Quaker background and had all of their guests sign a beautiful symbolic Quaker Marriage Certificate.

“Aaron and Siarra ask that you join them in signing their Quaker marriage certificate as witnesses of their love and friendship through life, and their vows taken today.”

Image by Three Region Photography

And perhaps my favorite part, as Siarra and Aaron recessed into the woods, their guests threw colorful little paper airplanes!

Wedding Wire Review

“Katherine was amazing at our wedding and not only did she create a beautiful ceremony for us, but she really helped us along the way as well. She knew we were clueless! From guiding us through the process of applying for our wedding certificate (and reminding us to apply), to a great guide in changing my name. Katherine was even a source of support when I ran into issues with my venue. We were instantly comfortable with her from the moment we met with her. Very responsive to our questions, professional, and I would highly recommend!!”

Veronica and Daniel were married on July 8th at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, NC. While “wedding venue” may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the museum, let me assure you that this is one of the coolest places in the triangle to have your wedding. I have seen couples get so creative with the indoor and outdoor spaces at this location. The SUPER cool thing about this particular ceremony is that Veronica and Daniel wanted to say their “I dos” in the tree houses!

Thunder in the distance threatened their plans, followed by torrential downpours. Guests gathered inside the museum as we waited for a decision on the ceremony location. These brave souls made the decision to go for it in the rain, and the couple and wedding party with bright yellow umbrellas to make it happen!

Photo by Morgan Henderson Photography

The Ceremony!

As you can imagine, there were some pretty creative elements in the ceremony for a tree house wedding.

Photo by Morgan Henderson Photography

Guests gathered on the ground among the trees, looking up at the couple.

Photo by Morgan Henderson Photography

The wedding party made their entrance via spiral staircase.

Photo by Morgan Henderson Photography

How does the ring bearer get the ring up there, you ask? Why, bucket and pulley system, of course!

Unity Ritual

Veronica and Daniel chose to include a handfasting in their ceremony.

Photo by Morgan Henderson Photography

You can see above the colors they chose were red, white, and teal, to coordinate with their wedding colors.

Photos by Morgan Henderson Photography

It is difficult to see from this angle, but here I am saying, “They have tied the knot!”

Photo by Morgan Henderson Photography

At last, the kiss and the pronouncement! These two are Mr. & Mrs.!

Photo by Morgan Henderson Photography

And perhaps my favorite part, the wedding party recessed through the bride green tube slide!

Lastly, I am so appreciative of these two taking the time to leave a review on Wedding Wire!

Photo by Morgan Henderson Photography

“Fantastic! Best wedding officiant either of us has ever used ever. We’d give her a 6 if it were possible. Katherine is such a trooper. We had the pleasure of being her first couple to get married in a tree house during a thunder storm. She gave us the option to abbreviate the ceremony but stuck it out when we chose to do the whole thing (she was only partially covered by an umbrella even). Choosing vows was a fun and simple process. Katherine made the business part of it easy as well. We give her our highest recommendation and encourage others to reach out to her.”

The details!

Joelle and Matt were married on July 1st, 2017 at the premier indoor wedding venue in downtown Youngsville, NC: Cross + Main! I spent a lot of time at this venue in 2017 and really fell in love with it. It was originally built in the 1900s and restored beautifully in 2014. The location in downtown Youngsville is ideal! There are so many neat architectural details and the exposed brick walls make lovely a lovely backdrop for decor and photos. Check out Matt & Joelle’s memory wall below:

Cross + Main also has this super cool wooden cart that is perfect for desserts or favors! Their adorable desserts were from Cakes by Chelsea.

Have you guys heard of Eco Flowers? They are a company out of Utah who make eco-friendly bouquets and flower arrangements out of recycled and sustainable materials. It is pretty cool! I first heard about them from Joelle and Matt, so I was excited to check out their flowers in person:

The Ceremony!
Joelle and Matt chose the “Completely Custom” ceremony package, which means I shared their love story during the ceremony. This is always fun! Here is a snippet from their proposal:

“On their first night in Iceland they loaded up on a bus with a bunch of other couples and families and ventured out into the darkness to see the Northern Lights. At first the lights were faint… pretty, but not super exciting. They cuddled up together to watch them, but after a few minutes Matt seemed a little upset and wanted to go inside to get some hot chocolate. Little did Joelle know that some guy right behind her had just popped the question to his girlfriend and Matt thought his moment was ruined!

After a little time inside, one of the tour guides ran in to tell everyone the lights had gotten much brighter and more visible. So Matt took Joelle’s hand and they ran outside to look. The lights were brilliant… bright green and dancing in the sky. It was at that perfect, beautiful moment that Matt got down on one knee and proposed.”

And another fun fact about this wedding: They chose their colors (teal & purple) based on the ceiling lights on their Icelandic Air flight!

Photo by Bethany Joy Photography

Unity Ritual

Joelle and Matt wanted to include a Unity Canvas in their ceremony and I was so excited about this! I’ve seen it on Pinterest, but hadn’t done one in a ceremony yet. I took a few pictures of their set up:

You’ll notice a few really smart things they did… First, there is a tray available for catching the paint that drips off! Second, they had pour-friendly vessels for the paint, so no brushes were involved. And finally, they had aprons available so they wouldn’t get paint on their clothes! (In the moment they didn’t actually put them on… lol! But luckily there was no spillage.)

Photo by Bethany Joy Photography

Each color, contrast, shadow, blend as unique and beautiful as our happy couple!

I appreciate these guys leaving a review for me on Wedding Wire!
“Katherine is absolutely amazing! I cannot say enough times what an amazing job she did with our custom ceremony… so many guests complimented her telling of our love story and the secret things we told her about each other! Our big day was so much more special because of her and we cannot thank her enough for everything you did!! I was so excited to see a typed copy of our ceremony along with our certificate of marriage. Thank you for an awesome day that we will remember forever!”

“Katherine was AMAZING throughout the entire process! She was so willing to be flexible in our plans and patient with us as we decided on a date that worked with our family. She has such a kind spirit and felt as if she was a part of our family on our wedding day. We are so happy to have had her there for us. She explained every step so thoroughly, maintained great speed in her messages back and forth with us, and was overall the most thoughtful person for our day.”

Comments Off on Molly & Adam at the Raleigh Little Theatre Rose Garden

“My husband and I can’t express enough how wonderful Katherine is. She is one of the nicest and sweetest people you will ever meet. She made everything so easy and simple for us. She helped us create an incredibly meaningful, customized ceremony that helped reflect both of our backgrounds… Hindu and Christian, while also focusing on us and our love for one another. Katherine was a pleasure to work with from the moment we met her. Throughout the entire process, Katherine was responsive, attentive and offered feedback on all the questions we had.

Katherine was so engaging and all of my guests felt so comfortable in her presence. She helped guide our ceremony with perfect ease and confidence. Katherine is one of those people who will have an incredibly calming effect on you and any worries or concerns you may have she will quickly take care of. Every time I started to feel overwhelmed or anxious, I could just look at Katherine and she helped make me feel relaxed again.

All the big and small details that come with getting married were made so easy with Katherine’s help and guidance. Katherine did a great job of reminding us about everything throughout the process and even emailed us after our wedding to help with the next steps of changing my name, etc.

The ceremony was exactly what we imagined and everyone in attendance said it was the most unique, heartfelt wedding they have ever been to. We obviously couldn’t have done this without Katherine and we are so lucky to have met her. She helped make one of the most important days of our lives so very special. We will never forget how much she cared in making our day so memorable. We can’t thank her enough and know that you won’t find another officiant as sweet, caring and helpful has Katherine.”

“Several people at our reception complimented us on Katherine and asked how we found her because she did such a great job. She is very easy to talk to and guided us through the process smoothly. Katherine helped us recognize details we did not consider. We joked that whenever we sent her an email we knew we would have a reply when we woke up the next morning because all of her responses came at 6am. We really appreciated her responsiveness and professionalism. On the day of she was a calming, reassuring presence!”

“Katherine gave a beautiful ceremony! We got married during hurricane Matthew and she was still on top of her game, even though we were frantically changing the location of the ceremony. She was so warm and friendly from the beginning and very responsive to any changes throughout the process. I have nothing but wonderful things to say about her and so grateful she was part of our special day!”

“Katherine was excellent to work with and we highly recommend her to anyone looking for an officiant in the triangle area. Although we decided to use the pre-written ceremony templates she has, rather than a custom ceremony, there were so many different combinations to choose from that we were able to compile a unique ceremony that fit us as a couple. Not only was the ceremony beautiful, Katherine also quickly stepped in to coordinate our rehearsal when we had a bit of a hiccup with planning.”

“There are not enough words to describe how wonderful Katherine Edwards is, both as a person and an officiant. My husband and I aren’t particularly religious, so we were looking for someone who would work with us to create a meaningful, customized ceremony that reflected our love and relationship, while also being entertaining and engaging for our guests. Katherine provided all of that and more. The ceremony was exactly what we had envisioned and everyone in attendance said it was the most unique, moving, personalized wedding they had ever been to.

Katherine was a pleasure to work with from day one – we instantly clicked with her. She was incredibly kind, considerate, and absolutely determined to provide a sweet and personalized ceremony for us. Throughout the entire process, Katherine was responsive, encouraging, and attentive, offering feedback and guidance on factors like time and length, plus a few ideas that turned out to be perfect additions to the ceremony. We decided to write our own vows, and Katherine graciously (and patiently) read each draft to make sure they complemented each other.

On the day of the wedding, we felt comfortable, confident, and entirely at ease knowing that Katherine had everything under control. She delivered the ceremony beautifully, and managed to make what was already a perfect day even better. It can be hard to remember the more practical details of getting married when it’s the actual day, but with Katherine there we didn’t have to – she handled all of the logistics of the marriage license, including getting the witness signatures returning it to the Register of Deeds, and sending us a follow up email with important info.

We obviously couldn’t have tied the knot without Katherine, but we also wouldn’t have wanted to. She made the most important part of the wedding day the least stressful, and we are so grateful to have found her. You won’t find a warmer, sweeter, more positive or more capable officiant anywhere.”

“Katherine is truly amazing and it was an honor to have her be apart of our wedding. She is such a kind, genuine soul. The ceremony she performed for our wedding ceremony was absolutely perfect. look no further, she is the best!!”